There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Friday’s first Challenger level semifinal bout between the Chicago Slice and Atlanta Bouncers.

Both teams were using alternates due to their regular players not being available, with Chicago calling on Wyatt Stone and Michelle Esquivel to fill in for Brendon Long and Allison Harris, and Atlanta using Anderson Scarpa in place of Jaume Martinez Vich.

After just over an hour of play, though, there was no doubt who the better squad was in Central Florida.

The Slice came through the encounter with a 3-0 sweep in the first match of the best two out of three series.

Esquivel and Megan Fudge set the tone early with a 25-16 triumph over Atlanta’s Susannah Barr/Emily Cederquist, which set Stone and Jack Munro up to face Scarpa and Todd Fought in men’s doubles.

Scarpa/Fought jumped out to a 9-2 lead in that contest, but Stone/Munro staged an epic comeback to take it 27-25 and give the Slice a 2-0 advantage going into mixed doubles.

From there, Esquivel/Stone continued riding the momentum for Chicago and closed out the sweep with a 25-20 triumph over Cederquist/Fought.

With the Slice now just one win away from the finals and the Bouncers one loss away from ending their season, attention will now turn to Match 2 of the series.

That will begin at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.